Benefits of Biophilic Design in Schools: From Nurseries to Universities — Wellness Design Consultants

Nurseries, schools and universities can leverage healthy building strategies to facilitate learning - here we cover the role of biophilic design, healthy materials, indoor air quality, light and restorative spaces

How can wellbeing design be used in schools?

The cultivation of a healthy learning environment goes well beyond curriculum, teaching staff, physical activity and the canteen menu - by implementing evidence-based design inspired by biophilia and healthybuildingprinciples, we can create educational spaces maximized for learning and happiness. Biophilic design can significantly improve emotional well-being by reducing stress levels and promoting overall mental health. Incorporating natural elements such as plants, water, and natural light into educational spaces is crucial for enhancing student performance and well-being.

How do we do this? By leveraging the latest thinking around healthy materials, indoor air quality, light and set pieces known as ‘restorative spaces‘.

Children are especially sensitive to **environment

Using Healthy Materials in educational environments

If no expertise on sustainable, non-toxic, and natural materials is delivered to a project team during the design phase, materials can find their way into an interior that will negatively impact the health of building occupants.

This happens primarily through off-gassing of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and the emission of toxic chemicals into the air through the processes of natural

sources of pollutants in nursery and school buildings

Unhealthy materials have the potential to increase indoor air pollutants, which have been found to decrease cognitive functioning and therefore diminish student productivity. The hotspots for such issues tend to be insulation materials, flooring, paints, adhesives and furniture.

We focus on the internal make-up of building materials and their health impacts, a research process facilitated by Health Product Declarations (HPDs) that provide a clear, concise overview of a product's ingredients.

Deploying a Healthy Materials strategy in a nursery, school or university can:

• Reduce negative health impacts from toxic chemicals

• Improve indoor air quality

• Reduce symptoms of Sick Building Syndrome

Paul Chevalier School, France - an example of a healthy learning environment using biophilic design

Enhanced Indoor Air Quality in nurseries, schools, universities

Indoor air quality has a tangible impact on human performance and if not properly established, maintained and monitored, can negatively impact learning and productivity

After steps have been taken to reduce pollutants coming from materials and surfaces in a space (see above), proper cleaning and ventilation practices should be incorporated to maintain good air quality.

Numerous studies have linked cognitive success, absenteeism rates and Sick Building Syndrome symptoms to indoor air quality and ventilation rates (see here).

Ventilation and indoor air quality

Higher ventilation rates are associated with lower rates of absenteeism and Sick Building Syndrome symptoms as well as improvements in test scores, while poor ventilation rates were found to decrease attention and increase school days missed.

One study showed that higher ventilation rates led to 1.6 fewer days missed, while another demonstrated that students had higher scores on math, reading and science tests when the classrooms were properly ventilated (Allen / see sources below). 

In summary, deploying an enhanced indoor air quality plan in a nursery, school or university can:

• Increase attention rates

• Reduce Sick Building Syndrome symptoms

• Decrease absenteeism

• Improve student test scores / cognitive function

The importance of lighting design in nursery, school and university settings

Consideration around natural light as well as electric lighting solutions is an important factor in creating a healthy indoor environment for learning, both for its biophilia benefits and added focus through details such as task lighting solutions. Incorporating ample natural light in educational settings enhances student performance, well-being, and productivity. Maximizing natural light can create a bright and inviting atmosphere, improve overall mental, physical, and emotional health, and contribute to energy efficiency and ecological sustainability.

Daylight and biophilia

Daylight connects students to the natural world, fostering a closer connection with nature. Natural light has a positive impact on students' mental health by reducing stress and promoting emotional balance.

In addition, enhance exposure to natural light as part of a biophilia plan synchronizes us with our body’s circadian rhythms, which when optimized has been shown to increase worker performance (Allen / see sources below).

Task lighting (e.g. smaller format table lamps) is another tool to boost learning environments for activities such as reading or writing, which rely heavily on visual performance.

It was found that a group of third graders who had access to focus lighting for a year had a 36% increase in oral reading fluency, while a group without focus lighting had only a 17% increase (Allen / see sources below).

Circadian lighting

In addition, the type of artificial light has been proven to have an impact - a study found that blue-enriched light causes higher levels of concentration, alertness, and cognitive performance, as well as higher test scores for students (Allen / see below). 

In summary, such lighting strategies as part of a biophilia plan can:

• Improve student mood

• Increase learner alertness and concentration

• Increase student cognitive processing speed and performance

• Improve learner test scores

Restorative Spaces in nursery, school, university settings

Classroom design and orientation can be just as important as the elements that function within the space. The incorporation of small restorative spaces that have been deliberately created using the biophilic design concept for example can help relieve stress and mental fatigue amongst students, providing a modest mental refresh. 

WELL Certification and restorative space design

There are many ways to designarestorative space, and the WELL Building Standard (see more on that here) aims to provide guidance on what can be most successful, using its evidence-based design approach. While the creative design work still needs to come from us, leveraging research data and scientific rigour is a key part of the process in order to deliver tangible results once the space is completed.

Integrating outdoor spaces into school design can provide students with access to natural landscapes and green roofs, fostering sensory interaction with the environment.

According to the WELL ‘Mind’ concept, restorative spaces should include natural elements**/ biophilic design** and have thoughtful lighting, sound, thermal and material choices. In addition, an element of privacy and the inclusion of calming colors, textures and forms is beneficial for recharging and refocusing. See our Biofilico design example image above for this.

Simply creating a place of quiet and calm can have an impact on student performance. For example, a French study found that test scores decreased by 5.5 points for each 10 dB increase in noise levels above the average noise level (~50 dB) (Allen / see sources below).

Biophilic design not only supports mental health but also contributes to the physical health of students by reducing stress and promoting overall well-being.

Schools and learning environments can, if not designed thoughtfully using healthy interior design principles, cause low level stress for students and even increase mental fatigue, so the incorporation of places or respite and restoration are key to providing kids and students with a nourishing place to perform their best.

In summary, the integration of biophilic design in restorative spaces can:

• Relieve mental fatigue and stress

• Recharge and rejuvenate

• Promote increased learning and academic success

• Provide a nature connection

Biophilic Design in learning environments such as nurseries and schools

Biophilic design has been shown to improve cognitive function through increased memory, concentration, creativity, and productivity—all key factors in learning environments. See more here.

A recent study looking at the impact of biophilic design on learning spaces found that the reduction in student stress was much greater in a biophilic classroom when compared with control. In addition, learning outcomes were greatly improved—math test score averages increased more than three times higher in the biophilic design classroom over a seven-month period.

Finally, 7.2% more of the students in the biophilic learning environment tested at grade level when compared with the control classroom (Determan). This study provides encouraging outcomes between biophilic design and improvements in student learning outcomes, wellbeing, and the potential for success.

In addition, the Attention Restoration Theory (ART) correlates increased nature exposure to a faster recovery from mental fatigue and stress (Jimenez).

The use of biophilic design to enhance learning environments connects to many of the strategies mentioned above—such as the incorporation of natural elements in restorative spaces or materials, and the use of daylighting to enhance learning capabilities. Occasionally these lines can blur but only because the biophilic design concept encompasses so many healthy design strategies within it.

In summary, biophilic design principles in learning environments can:

• Improve cognitive functioning and productivity

• Enhance creativity and memory

• Increase test scores and improve learning outcomes

• Reduce stress and provide restorative benefits

Overall, the atmosphere and personality of learning spaces has the potential to positively influence student performance. Healthy material choices, indoor air quality monitoring, lighting, and the incorporation of restorative spaces and biophilic design are tools available to us as healthy interior specialists, so we believe they can and should be deployed to full effect for this purpose!

SourcesAllen, Joseph G, and John D Macomber. Healthy Buildings: How Indoor Spaces Drive Performance and Productivity. Harvard University Press, 2020.

Barbiero, Giuseppe, et al. “Bracing Biophilia: When Biophilic Design Promotes Pupil’s Attentional Performance, Perceived Restorativeness and Affiliation with Nature.” Environment, Development and Sustainability, 2021,https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-021-01903-1

Determan, Jim, et al. “THE IMPACT OF BIOPHILIC LEARNING SPACES ON STUDENT SUCCESS.” Oct. 2019.

Jimenez, Marcia P. et al. “Associations Between Nature Exposure and Health: A Review of the Evidence.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18.9 (2021): 4790. Crossref. Web.